How do you react to the color red?

With the holidays approaching, we are apt to see a lot of red around. We may have the tendency to wear red. We drape a scarf around our neck or attach a candy cane pin to our sweater. We dress up with a red blouse or make sure our tie has red accents in the design. We decorate with red poinsettias, red holly berries, red bows on wreaths and Christmas trees. We do these things to appear festive around the holiday season. And we feel festive, too. But why?

I see red as a bright, warm color that seems to make me feel the same way — brighter and warmer to everyone I meet. Red seems to cheer me, making me feel happier, taking my mind off my troubles. I feel uplifted and more positive.

We’ve all seen the flashing red on a traffic light that immediately gets our attention. And what do we do? We prepare to stop as we do when we see a red stop sign. Then there is the red painted on a furnace emergency switch to halt the ignition of fuel, quickly and easily. And isn’t it interesting that red is the first color mentioned when discussing the color wheel in the realm of art?

Another place we find red is on the chakra tower of energy, taking up residence as number one on the bottom. There, it represents the family. Every color has a frequency which corresponds to an organ or area of the body. The color red has the same frequency as the area of the lower spine where many aches and pains seem to lodge; the chi (energy) can get stuck there, causing great discomfort. This can be an indicator of tension in some relationship within the family. It can be a signal to us, not only to identify, but possibly to initiate the healing process in that relationship.

We can also find red as a physical indicator of an underlying temperament. When embarrassed, our face flushes with reddish tones, and when we feel extreme anger, the capillaries fill as blood rushes to the surface again but this time as a possible sign of forthcoming danger to whoever is nearby.

Every color has a frequency that also corresponds on an emotional level in select situations. That corresponding emotion is fear. Personally, I experienced a great deal of fear after receiving a physical diagnosis. My fear was of the future, my future. During a particularly fearful time when I was alone at home, nervous and shaking, I knew I needed to move and so I did — around and around my dining room table. My watercolor pad was lying there and, as I circled, I took out a brush and dipped into red watercolor paint, creating designs in red, contrasting with a bit of black, inscribing the word fear in large letters. Each time I circled, I added more paint. The emotion faded as I circled … and painted … and circled … and painted. And then I realized, as the fear dissipated, that my courage began to replace it; for red also represents the courage we need to overcome the fear and move beyond it. I still have that painting and when I begin to doubt and allow fear to enter, I take it out, look at it and remember that when I was the most fearful I’ve ever felt in my entire life, I had the courage within to overcome that fear. And my present fear fades away. So the color red can also aid in our healing adverse emotions.

Weeks later, when I was due for my industrial strength prednisone treatment, I took a red flower with me. As I sat there, I frequently smelled the flower and focused on it, admiring the patterns of color and unique beauty. Spending time with it, I allowed the frequency of the color to help me regain the courage it took not to worry about the outcome but to stay in the present moment and be strong.

We each have a choice at those times. We can waste our energy on worrying and giving in to fear or we can call upon our courage buried deep within us and believe in our strength. We can, therefore, either support our body in its healing process or propel it into more stress and drain as it becomes depleted of the healing energies it naturally possesses.

Mother Nature helps us to better understand the color red and the gift it is in our lives. We marvel at the rainbow with the beginning of the arch decorated in red. And the brilliant beauty of the male cardinal, especially during mating season, as it perches in a nearby tree. We are awed by the leaves of the red maple in the fall as the dominant green pigment regresses. We love the smell of the wild red roses that attract the bees for pollination. And what about the red in the sunset that brightens the nighttime sky or the red in the sunrise that welcomes in a new day? And on … and on … and on.

There are so many examples of red that we enjoy — from drawing our attention, to alerting us to possible danger, to helping us to heal.

When we see the color red this holiday season, let’s remember all the beauty that color brings each and every day and allow it to erase any fears we may have. Yes, there is a reason why red is the first color in the color wheel and the first color in the arch of the rainbow. It is first and foremost there to help us heal, to dispense with any negative emotions welling up inside of us, any at all. So let’s celebrate and bring on the red!

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Debby Havas is an author in Jay. Her writings describe her experiences with the healing energies of Mother Nature.